Notes |
- Susanna's mother died in July 1833 after being bitten by a spider and contracting blood poisoning. Her father was a shoemaker by trade but had taken on the job of managing a trading store near Pirie Mission Station in British Kaffraria after his wife died. He was killed at the outbreak of the 6th Frontier War on 24 Dec 1834 when the amaXhosa plundered his shop, leaving the four children orphaned. After their arrival back in Grahamstown the four children were taken in by adoptive families. Her brother Charles was taken in by a John Cawood, her elder sister Charlotte by a Mr. William Lee and her oldest brother John was apprenticed by Mr. Innis as a mason. Susanna herself was taken in by Mr. Rutherfoord.
The following are extracts from Pearl Scotneys book - The Kent Family 1820 - 1986;
".......The children were aged 13, 10, 7 and 4 years respectively when they were orphaned. After being taken by loyal Xhosa maids to the Pirie Mission station, they were cared for by the Rev john Ross of the Glasgow Missionary Society. They lived in his house until the Mission station was also threatened and Gaika's widow and sons advised the missionary to leave in haste.
Three wagons were hurriedly packed and all those at Pirie left on the 13th January 1835 for Burnshill some 20 km away. There the party stayed for several days until Burnshill in its turn was also threatened by attack. An urgent plea for aid was hastily dispatched to Col Smith in Grahamstown who sent Major Cox with troops to provide protection. When the post was finally evacuated all those at Burnshill, together with the forces, travelled via Lovedale and Fort Beaufort to Grahamstown. According to Charles Kent, whose life story is described later, the Rev Ross and his party took another route and went from Pirie Mission to present-day King William's Town and then, under escort of soldiers, to Grahamstown. Although Charles was seven years old at the time he only wrote his memoirs when he was an elderly man. For this reason, it is more than likely that he could not remember the exact route taken.
On arrival in Grahamstown on the 29th January 1835 the Kent children, together with other refugee orphans, had another traumatic experience (Cory, 1920). Lots were apparently cast for the orphans and it was in this way that Charlotte, John, Charles and Susanna were separated from each other. Charles has stated that he remembered being very sad on being parted from his sister. The 13-year old Charlotte had been like a mother to the other children after Ellen had died. She went to a Mr William Lee (jnr), who had a butchery in Bathurst Street, Grahamstown; John was apprenticed to a mason Mr William Innis; Charles went to Mr John Cawood, a farmer at Cawood's Post; and Susanna was taken by Henry Rutherford, a local merchant.
.......Henry Bell Rutherfoord (1805-1877) was a brother of the Cape Town merchant-philanthropist, Howson Edwards Rutherfoord. He managed the Grahamstown office of H E Rutherfoord and Brother, general merchants and shipping agents (Dictionary of South African Biography III). He was not an 1820 Settler but became an active member of the Board of Relief for the Destitute established after the Sixth Frontier War.
.......Nothing at all can be traced of Susanna's lifestory although her 'likeness' was found amongst old family photographs. It is assumed that she never married."
During 2009, the author of this note made contact with two descendents of Susanna Kent, Sheenagh Partridge (nee Gillespie) and Tracey Itta (nee Geyser) (both 2nd great grandaughters) through Pearl Scotney. Sheenagh and Tracey had been researching the Bristow family into which Susanna Kent had married in 1852. It was through these two researchers that Susanna's lifestory was revealed.
Susanna's adoptive parents, the Rutherfoord's, returned to England in 1851 and she was of course taken with them. As far as is known Susanna lost all contact with her siblings thereafter. She married George William Grant Bristow on 21 July 1852 in England. The couple had seven children and in the strangest quirk of fate, their second son, Leicester Grant Bristow, came to South Africa in 1877 to join the FAMP, where he met Charlotte Amelia Mardon in Fort Beaufort in 1880. He and Charlotte were married in KingWilliamsTown in 1881. Charlotte Amelia Mardon was the daughter of Charlotte Kent - Susanna's sister - and hence Leicester's 1st cousin.
As far as the Bristow/Mardon descendents are aware, Charlotte and Susanna had no contact with each other after Susanna was taken to England and they believe that Charlotte Amelia Mardon and Leicester Bristow's meeting was purely concidental and that the couple were unaware that their mothers were sisters. Certainly, In Leicester's memoirs, he makes no mention of this fact and despite the odds of the two of them actually meeting and falling in love being more in the realms of a Hollywood romance movie, it seems to be the reality of the situation. Indeed, by the time Charlotte and Leicester met (1880), Susanna had been dead for 5 years so the family connection could well have been overlooked.
It does, however, seem highly improbable that the connection could have remained undiscovered for almost 130 years until being revealed by their 3rd great grandaughters, Sheenagh and Tracey. If the family did become aware of their relationship, it would seem it was kept secret, as was the relationship of the Kent/Mardon/Bristow families to the Levey and Hughes families. Through Charlotte & Susanna Kent, the Levey's Hughes, Mardons and Bristows are all interrelated.
«tab»Susanna never returned to her country of birth; she died at 50 Tavistock Crescent, Kensington Town, London on 23 October 1875, at the age of 45. At the time of this writing, She has 69 known descendents.
Author: Colin Edwin Levey. East London, East Cape, RSA [3]
- when orphaned went to Mr Henry Rutherfoord
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